Somewhere along the way in the White Paper's journey from policymakers to the people, there was a breakdown in communication. The Government's population roadmap was a year in the making. Yet when the plan was finally unveiled earlier last month, the response was overwhelmingly negative. Many were shocked to read of further plans to grow the population to reach up to 6.9 million in 2030, when so much angst had been expressed about present-day congestion. SMU Assistant Professor of Law and NMP Eugene Tan said: "It was more a case of the Government appearing to want to bulldoze its way, treating the White Paper as an imperative rather than a basis to state its case and seek buy-in." He also said that the issues could have been better framed. "Framing was the elephant in the room. It was poorly done and that meant the Government was on the defensive from the word go."